Four final members of an organised crime group that peddled drugs and firearms across the north of England have been jailed following a long-running National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.
The group was headed by 39-year-old Carl O’Flaherty, who was jailed for over 17 years in 2023.
His criminal enterprise was foiled as part of Operation Venetic, the NCA-led UK response to the infiltration and takedown of encrypted communications platform EncroChat.
From 2019 to late 2020, the organised crime group purchased large quantities of cocaine as well as chemicals required to make amphetamine.
The drugs and chemicals were taken to addresses in Leeds and Bradford where gang members, referred to as “chefs”, would produce amphetamine and adulterate the cocaine for onward supply.
Today, 7 January, three of O’Flaherty’s aides and one of his criminal associates were sentenced at Leeds Crown Court. They were found guilty of drug supply offences following a three-week trial in November 2024.
Michael Stanislawczuk, 39, also known by his EncroChat handles ‘Sizabelarm’ and ‘Polishshaman’, was jailed for 12 years for his role as a chef, which included an unsuccessful attempt to extract cocaine dissolved in 37 litres of oil.
Another of the gang’s chefs, 38-year-old David Brierley, produced amphetamine and was unmasked as the user behind EncroChat handle ‘Kingchef-uk’. He was jailed for 12 years and six months.
Safdar Pervez, 57, is a taxi driver who moonlighted as a trusted courier for the criminal network and operated under perceived darkness behind his ‘Satanicgate’ EnroChat handle.
For his role ferrying large quantities of drugs and tens of thousands of pounds across the north of England, Pervez was jailed for 11 years.
One of his regular trips was to County Durham to deliver kilos of diluted cocaine to 39-year-old Daryll Hall, one of O’Flaherty’s top customers.
Hall was sentenced to 15 years in his absence having absconded before the start of November’s trial. Work to locate him and bring him into custody is ongoing.
(From L-R: David Brierley, Michael Stanislawczuk, Daryll Hall, Safdar Pervez)
NCA investigators unravelled the drugs conspiracy after a fist-sized bag of cocaine and an EncroChat handset were seized from ex-footballer Paul Shepherd’s car April 2020.
His house was searched and officers discovered a Glock pistol, a bolt-action sniper rifle and 213 rounds of ammunition. Shepherd was jailed for over nine years in 2023.
EncroChat data showed that O’Flaherty had directed Shepherd to store the firearms at his address and move the cocaine found in his car.
And further analysis uncovered the crime group’s business model.
While the amphetamine was produced by “chefs” Stanislawczuk and Brierley on-site at properties in Leeds and Bradford, high purity cocaine was purchased three kilos at a time for £123,000.
It would then be diluted with cheap chemicals and resold as four kilos for £150,000 to dealers one step down the supply chain, such as Hall.
NCA Operations Manager Nigel Coles said: “Our complex and extensive investigation has brought down every member of this dangerous criminal network, from the mastermind behind the conspiracy to couriers transporting both firearms and drugs across the north of England.
“Lengthy custodial sentences have been given to all the ten members of this organised crime group and the investigation has stopped significant quantities of harmful drugs reaching our communities, together with the seizure of deadly firearms.
“At the NCA we are committed to our mission of protecting the public from serious and organised crime, and in dismantling this network we have made our communities a safer place to live.”
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